Days

In “Days”, director Tsai Ming-liang turns attention to the crippled body of his favorite actor Lee Kang-sheng. Kang’s desire to relieve himself of pain and his constant solitude brings him to a massage parlor with a young masseur. The trajectories of these two men with different backgrounds shortly meet in a moment filled with intense sensory experience and cause a stir in their solitary lives. After a series of films with no plot and intimate personal stories, “Days” see the Taiwanese director’s return to a slow-paced, delicately melodramatic narrative. It is, in the best possible way, a nurturing and hypnotizing film infused with moments of unforgettable transience. – Ondřej Pavlík